Knitting machine



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. EBERL KNITTING MACHINE FIG. 70

INVENTOR FRANZ EBEPL P M f M W was XI i Nov. 22, .1960

Filed March 21, 1957 Nov. 22, 1960 F. EBERL KNITTING MACHINE Filed March21, 19 57 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR F RA NZ EBEPL,

Nov. 22, 1960 F. EBERL 2,960,854

KNITTING MACHINE Filed March 21, 1957 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR FRA NZ[BE/Q1. lr

United States Patent KNITTING MACHINE Franz Eberl, Keramikstrasse 4,Gmunden, Upper Austria, Austria Filed Mar. 21, 1957, Ser. No. 647,611

Claims priority, application Austria Mar. 26, 1956 6 Claims. (Cl. 66-71)This invention relates to a knitting machine comprising at least oneneedle bed with a row of parallel latch needles, a cam box or carriagemovable on the needle bed transversely to the direction of movement ofsaid latch needles and having cams for engaging the butt ends of saidneedles so as to lower and lift the latch needles, and a cam foroperating the sinkers which are adjustable between the latch needles andformed with a threadengaging surface for the formation of loops.

In a known machine of that kind the length of stitch can be adjustedWithin a range whose upper limit is determined by the distance between asinker edge, which, being guided along an arc of a circle, remains in asubstantially unchanged effective position relative to the needlemovement, and the hook of the latch needle in its lowest position, whichis determined by the largest angle which can be included by the loweringportions of the needle cams in the carriage.

In another known knitting machine the width of the loop can be varied bymeans of double-lever sinkers which are pivoted on a stationary axis andarranged between the latch needles and movable in the same sense as thelatter, the swing of which double levers can be adjusted to limit thewidth of stitch from a predetermined maximum down to smaller widths, thewidth decreasing with an increase of the swing permitted to thethread-engaging surface of the double lever. In these known machines,therefore, sinkers or double levers which are pivoted on an axis areprovided and the threadengaging surface of the sinker, which limits thewidth of the loop, is moved substantially in the same direction as thelowering latch needle. Finally it has also been proposed to assemble theneedle beds of knitting machines in any desired relation to each other.

It is an object of the invention to enable an increase in the length ofthe stitch beyond the limit provided in the known machines and thus toenable the making of knitwear having stitch sizes varying within wideranges.

It is furthermore an object of the invention to provide a knittingmachine for producing knitting in which plain and reversed stitchessucceed each other in any desired number without requiring the hithertocustomary weighted pull-down combs, which are complicated in operation.

According to the invention the above objects are achieved by asinker-lifting cam which is mounted on the carriage and adapted to movethe sinkers in such a direction as to increase the distance of thethread-engaging surface or edge of each sinker from the hook end of theadjacent latch needles when the latter are moved in the direction towardtheir butt ends, in order to increase the length of stitch.

According to another feature of the invention, applicable to two-bedknitting machines, the sinkers of the two needle beds, coacting toproduce knitted goods having a ribbed pattern, have a laterallyextending tip disposed above their thread-engaging surface. The tips ofthe sinkers of both needle beds point preferably in the same directionto avoid a clashing of the tips of adjacent sinkers.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the description and the accompanying drawing, which shows twoillustrative embodiments of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a portion of a knitting machineaccording to the invention having one needle bed;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of said needle bed;

Figs. 3 and 4 are front and side elevations, respectively, of a sinker;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view showing the movement of thesinkers and latch needles;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line VI--VI of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the sinker-lifting cam mounted on thecarriage for controlling the sinker movement;

Figs. 8 and 9 are diagrammatic cross-sectional and top plan views of twointerconnected needle beds forming part of a modified machine accordingto the invention and of the associated carriages;

Fig. 10 is a top plan view of one carriage and of the sinker-lifting cammovably mounted thereon; and

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken on line XIXI of Fig. 7.

The knitting machine shown in Figs. 1 to 7 has a needle bed 1, which isconstructed in the usual manner and in the grooves of which the parallellatch needles 2 are guided. The front end of the needle bed 1 adjoins asinker bed 3 (Fig. 2) in which the sinkers 4 are guided so that they canbe lifted and lowered in a vertical plane. Each sinker is disposedbetween two adjacent latch needles. The plane in which the latch needles2 are moved is called the latch-needle plane. In the illustratedembodiment that plane extends at an angle of 45 relative to the verticalplane in which the sinkers are movable.

A sinker 4 is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4. It consists of asubstantially flat stamping, the lower portion of which is formed withparallel end faces 5 guided in the sinker bed 3. The sinker is formedwith a slot 6 which extends parallel to these end faces 5 and receives astationary rod 7 carried by the needle bed (Fig. 2). This slot 6 enablesthe movement of the sinker. The upper portion of the sinker has at itsfront side a reentrant thread-engaging edge 8 which extends at rightangles to the direction of movement of the latch needles 2. The rearside of the sinker is formed with a horizontal guide face 9 engageableby the sinker-lifting cam for controlling the movement of the sinkers.

The inoperative posit-ion of the sinkers is shown in Fig. 2; in thatposition a stop 1% disposed on the front side of the sinker engages theupper edge of a rail 25 of the base 14 of the needle bed. A small coilspring 12 is hung in a bore 11 formed in the lower end of the sinker andis afiixed at its other end to an angled abutment 13 of the base 14.That spring tends to pull the sinker down. A hooked extension 15 formedon the sinker above the thread-engaging edge 8 of the sinker terminatesin a laterally extending tip 16.

The sinkers are operated with the aid of a carriage (designated 32 inFigs. 8 and 9), which moves over the needle bed transversely to thedirection of the latch needles and carries a specially shapedsinker-lifting cam 21. The carriage may be designed in the usual manner,comprising a central needle-lowering cam, not shown, which delimits thedistance by which the needles are lowered and preferably enables anadjustment of said distance, moreover a pair of needle-lifting cams,likewise not shown, and a pair of stationary auxiliary lowering cams,illustrated at 41 in Fig. 10. The carriage may also be provided with apivoted thread guide for inserting the thread (not shown).

As is shown in Figs. 2 and 8, the top plate '19 of the carriage isguided in the usual manner by rails 20 located on the needle bed 1. Thetop plate 19 carries the sinker-lifting cam 21, the front edge of whichengages the guide faces 9 of the sinkers from below. This front edge isshaped symmetrically with respect to the center of the cam and issubstantially V-shaped. It rises at 22 and extends along a straight lineparallel to the latchneedle plane at 23 and then in the form of a curvedelevation 24 in the central portion (Fig. 7). In the righthand half ofFig. 7 there is shown how the sinkers are successively lifted as theirguide faces 9 run up on the front edge of the sinker-lifting cam 21. Thefigure shows sinkers a and b in their inoperative position, sinkers cand d in a partly lifted position and sinker e in its completely liftedposition. It is apparent that all sinkers will perform this two-stagelifting and lowering movement while the carriage is moved across thelatch needles.

The advantage which is thus achievable is apparent from Figs. and 6. InFig. 5, a is the distance traveled by the latch needle 2 from itsposition indicated in broken lines to its lowermost position during theformation of a thread loop; I) is the distance traveled by thethread-engaging surface 3 of the sinker from the position shown inbroken lines to the completely lifted position. The positions of thelatch needle and the sinker shown in broken lines are the positionsassumed by these parts at the instant when the looping of the threadbegins whereas the entirely lowered latch needle and the completelylifted sinker are shown in solid lines. Particularly from Fig. 6, whichshows clearly the pulling of the thread by the latch needles and theformation of the loop which is of increased length according to theinvention, it is clearly apparent that the movement of thethread-engaging surface 8 controlled by the sinker-lifting cam andperformed simultaneously with the lowering of the latch needle to itslowermost position will enable a further increase in the length of thestitch beyond the limit achievable in known machines. This increaseequals the distance b produced by the further lifting of the sinker.That distance can be determined by giving an appropriate shape to thesinker cam. Thus the length of the loop and of the stitch can becontrolled in any desired range whereby knitwear can be produced havinga density which is variable in a wide range.

It is obvious that there could be provided a set of sinker-lifting camsadapted to be selectively aiiixed on a the top plate of a carriage, inorder to enable an even larger variation in the length of the stitch.The eleva tion 2 in the central portion of the sinker cam could also beformed by vertically adjustable cam portions in order to enable acontinuous adjustment of the distance 11 within a certain range.

Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically the formation of a row of stitches in theknitting machine according to the invention; it does not appearnecessary to describe the several stages of forming the stitch, whichare sufficiently well known. To facilitate the understanding, twocomplete rows of stitches have been indicated in Fig. 1 whereas a thirdone, which is being formed by a movement of the carriage (not shown) tothe right, gives a clear showing of' these several stages.

A knitting machine having a double bed is shown in Figs. 8 and 9;similar parts being designated with the same reference characters as inFigs. 1 to 7. Such a machine can be obtained by connecting two of theneedle beds described hereiribefore so that the latch needles aredisposed at right angles to each other. Advantageously, detachableconnection of the two needle beds may be provided by a bail 31,whichextends over and across the 4 bases 14 of the two needle beds andcan be located therein (Fig. 8).

In assembling the two needle beds together, care must be taken to seethat the tips 16 of the sinkers 4 of each bed are on the same side andpoint in the same direction. Figs. 8 and 9 show also for each of the twobeds an associated carriage 32, which carries a sinker-lifting cam 21.The carriages are also connected by a bail (not shown) to ensure thatthey will be jointly displaced. Preferably a rigid central thread guideis provided.

The two needle beds may be coordinated as shown in Fig. 9, where eachlatch needle of one bed lies exactly opposite to a latch needle of theother bed. In that case only one of two mutually opposite needles isused for knitting. The coordination could also be such that the latchneedles of one needle bed are offset by half a needle pitch from thoseof the other; in that case all needles of both needle beds may be usedwith half the needle pitch.

As is apparent from Fig. 9, the laterally extending tips 16 of thesinkers become effective when the two needle beds are assembled andduring the subsequent operation of the machine. In that figure thearrangement of the non-working and working latch needles for making aribbed pattern (knit two, purl two) is shown. Pairs of adjacent needlesof one bed as well as the next two needles of the other bed areefifective whereas the needles opposite these needle pairs are not usedfor knitting. It is apparent that the thread inserted from above isengaged by the lowering needles while the tips 16 of the sinkers engagethe thread at all points where it passes over from a needle of one bedto the adjacent needle of the other bed, e.g., at 34, 35 and 36, andcoact with the hooks 15 in pulling down the knitting during the loweringmovement of the sinkers after the stitches have been formed.

Because'the sinkers must be completely lifted in the lowermost positionof the needles the sinker-lifting cam 21 of each carriage must bedisplaceable in the direction of movement of the carriage. As is shownin the drawing, the arrangement may be such that the central elevation24 of the sinker-lifting cam lies substantially over the center of theneedle-lowering cams 41 during the reciprocation of the carriage (Fig.10). The sinkerlifting cam is slidably carried on a slide rail 61, whichis afiixed to the top plate of the carriage and embraced by adouble-angled bail 62 of the sinker-lifting cam. Instead of beingslidably arranged, the sinker-lifting cam could also be mounted onthecarriage for pivotal movement on a fixed axis.

During the movement of the carriage over the needle bed thesinker-lifting cam 21 will be automatically displaced by the pressureexerted thereon by the sinkers to one or the other of its end positions,which are determined by screws 63 at the beginning of the movement ofthe carriage. Thus the central elevation 24 of the sinker cam will be inthe desired position opposite the lowering cam 41. V V V V The knittingmachine according to the invention is not restricted to the embodimentsshown and described by way of example inasmuch as many modifications arepossible within the scope of the invention.

I claim: a

1. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a row of parallel latchneedles each provided with a hook end at the top and a butt end at thebottom and guided in said needle bed for longitudinal reciprocatingmovement in an inclined plane, a carriage movable over said needle bedin a generally horizontal direction, said carriage being provided withcam means adapted to engage said butt ends of said needles in a mannercausing the same successively to reciprocate as said carriage moves oversaid needle bed, a row of sinkers each provided with a camengaging edgeand movably arranged between two adjacent ones of said needles andguided for linear reciproeating movement in a substantially verticalplane, each of said sinkers having a thread-engaging forward edgeextending generally perpendicularly to said latch needles for holding athread pulled by said hook ends of said adjacent needles as they aremoved in the direction towards said butt ends whereby loops are formed,and a sinker cam carried by said carriage for successive movement belowthe camengaging edges of all of said sinkers to reciprocate said sinkerssubstantially simultaneously with the movement of said adjacent needles,upon movement of said carriage over said needle bed, said cam means andsaid sinker cam being relatively positioned to raise said sinkers upon alowering of said needles and vice versa.

2. A knitting machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of saidsinkers is formed With a substantially vertical slot, said needle bedcarrying a substantially horizontal rod extending through said slots.

3. A knitting machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sinker cam ishorizontally displaceable on said carriage between two limitingpositions, said cam means including a pair of needle-lowering camsrespectively aligned with said sinker cam in said two limitingpositions.

4. A knitting machine as set forth in claim 3, further comprising asubstantially horizontal slide rail engaged by said sinker cam andmounted on said carriage, and abutment means at said rail adapted toarrest said sinker cam in said limiting positions.

5. A knitting machine comprising two needle beds angularly arrangedopposite each other, two rows of longitudinally movable parallel latchneedles each having a butt end and a hook end, said two rows of latchneedles defining substantially right angles with each other, each ofsaid rows being arranged in one of said needle beds, two carriages eachmovable over one of said beds trans versely to the direction of movementof said needles, needle cams carried by each of said carriages andadapted to engage said butt ends for successively reciprocating saidneedles as said carriages move over said beds, and two rows of sinkersarranged substantially parallel to each other for activation of arespective row of needles, each sinker being movably arranged betweentwo adjacent needles of the respective row and guided for areciprocating movement in a plane enclosing an acute angle with saidreciprocating latch needles, each sinker having a thread-engaging edgeadapted to hold a thread pulled by said hook end of one of said adjacentneedles as they are moved in the direction towards said butt endswhereby loops are formed, each of said sinkers being further formedabove said thread-engaging edge with a laterally extending tip adaptedto pull down said thread when the latter passes between alternate rowsof latch needles.

6. A knitting machine as set forth in claim 5 wherein said sinkers ofboth of said rows have said laterally extending tip on the same sidethereof whereby a clashing of the tips of adjacent sinkers is prevented.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,762,213 Schurich Sept. 11, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 517,723 Belgium Mar.14, 1953

